Archive for February, 2012

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Sri Lanka: The Need for Reconciliation after Atrocities

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

[United to End Genocide]

Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war ended in May 2009 when the Sri Lankan military defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). For more than 25 years, the LTTE had been fighting for a separate state for the nation’s minority Tamil population.

[Full Story]

Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

[Channel 4 News]

Last year Channel 4 broadcast Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields, a critically-acclaimed and RTS Award winning forensic investigation into the events of the last few weeks of the decades-long war between the government of Sri Lanka and the rebel forces of the Tamil Tigers (LTTE), presented by Jon Snow. It featured devastating video evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity captured on mobile phones by both victims and perpetrators - some of the most horrific footage Channel 4 has ever broadcast.

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UK ‘to deport 100 Tamils’ as Sri Lanka fights UN resolution

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

[Channel 4 News]

A plane chartered by the British government is to deport about 100 Tamil asylum seekers to Sri Lanka, according to a human rights charity. Human Rights Watch claims the aircraft will fly the Tamils back to the country where they could face interrogation and torture.

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Sri Lanka rejects need for U.N. war crime resolution

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

[Reuters]

Sri Lanka Monday rejected U.N. involvement in probing allegations of army atrocities in the long war against Tamil rebels that ended in 2009, saying U.N. calls to prosecute soldiers guilty of misconduct were “unwarranted incursions.”

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Sri Lanka protest over UN war abuses resolution

Monday, February 27th, 2012

[BBC]

Protests are being held across Sri Lanka against plans by Western nations to sponsor a UN motion calling for a probe into abuses during the civil war.

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Our duty to Sri Lanka, and human rights

Sunday, February 26th, 2012

[Guardian UK]

This week the UN Human Rights Council has an opportunity and a duty to help Sri Lanka advance its own efforts on accountability and reconciliation. Both are essential if a lasting peace is to be achieved. In doing so, the council will not only be serving Sri Lanka, but those worldwide who believe there are universal rights and international legal obligations we all share.

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UK: Halt Deportations of Tamils to Sri Lanka

Saturday, February 25th, 2012

[Human Rights Watch]

The United Kingdom should suspend deportations of ethnic Tamil asylum seekers to Sri Lanka and immediately review its policies and information about the country’s rights situation used to assess their claims, Human Rights Watch said today. Research by Human Rights Watch has found that some returned Tamil asylum seekers from the United Kingdom have been subjected to arbitrary arrest and torture upon their return to Sri Lanka.

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Sri Lanka outrage at UN over war general

Friday, February 24th, 2012

[AFP]

Sri Lanka on Friday expressed outrage over the barring of one its army generals from a UN peacekeeping committee following allegations that he killed civilians during the island’s civil war.

[Full Story]

Sri Lanka government publishes war death toll statistics

Friday, February 24th, 2012

[BBC]

Sri Lankan government statistics put the death toll in the north of the country during the final phase of the war at 9,000, the BBC has learned.

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Sri Lankan anger over US move at UN rights council

Thursday, February 23rd, 2012

[AFP]

Sri Lanka on Thursday vowed to hold mass protests against US-backed moves at the United Nations to press for an independent probe into alleged war crimes during the island’s civil war.

[Full Story]

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